1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing device, a line concentrator, a network information processing system having the line concentrator, an information processing program, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, with increase in abilities of computers and decrease in prices of computers, network systems which share peripheral devices in common and process information transmitted from computers are established on networks, particularly on LAN (Local Area Network)s.
The peripheral devices shared in common are, for example, image forming apparatuses such as copying machines, scanners, MFP (Multi Function Printer)s. By connecting a plurality of image forming apparatuses with a LAN and establishing a network system, it is possible for the image forming apparatuses to execute a printing job transmitted from a computer.
In such a network system, it is general that: a device for output is determined at a time when an output instruction is given, and each printing job which should be outputted is transmitted to the thus determined device.
However, in such a network system, there may be a case where requests for outputting jobs are concentrated onto a particular image forming apparatus, and accordingly some devices can output jobs but other devices are standing by for outputting of jobs. Therefore, image forming apparatuses may be ineffectively utilized.
In order to solve such problem, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses an arrangement in which: a server detects printing statuses of a plurality of printers, and selects the most suitable printer with respect to each request for printing.
[Patent Document 1]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 67157/2003 (Tokukai 2003-67157) (Published on Mar. 7, 2003)
Further, a printing system in which a plurality of image forming apparatuses are shared in common by a plurality of users has the following problem: in a case of processing printing data transmitted from outside, when printing data is transmitted to an image forming apparatus for executing a printing job and the job is processed in another printer according to the printing status of the image forming apparatus (see Patent Document 2) or when amount of data of a printing job is large and the job is processed by a plurality of image forming apparatuses, it is necessary to re-transmit the printing data.
[Patent Document 2]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 066950/2001 (Tokukai 2001-066950) (Published on Mar. 16, 2001)
In order to solve the problem, an image output system is proposed, in which mediation (negotiation) of jobs is performed among a plurality of image forming apparatuses on a network, and accordingly utilization efficiency of the image forming apparatuses is enhanced and mediation among the image forming apparatuses is made possible without increasing a burden on the network (see Patent Documents 3 through 5).
[Patent Document 3]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 003259/2000 (Tokukai 2000-003259) (Published on Jan. 7, 2000)
[Patent Document 4]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 319533/1997 (Tokukaihei 9-319533) (Published on Dec. 12, 1997)
[Patent Document 5]
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 331453/1999 (Tokukaihei 11-331453) (Published on Nov. 30, 1999)
For example, Patent Document 3 discloses an image forming system which categorizes printers having a common feature into a single group so as to automatically assign output data to printers having the function desired by a user. The image forming system categorizes printers having the same function into a single group and manages the printers. Therefore, when processing is performed, a group is selected according to a function required in the processing instead of selecting respective printers, and output data is assigned to a plurality of printers in the thus selected group.
Further, Patent Document 5 discloses an image output system in which jobs from each host on a LAN is assigned, by way of a server on the LAN, to a plurality of printers connected with the server via USB (Universal Serial Bus).
However, the conventional image output systems have the below-indicated problems.
As for the Patent Document 1, it is necessary to provide a server, which increases a cost. Further, traffic occurs because statuses of the plurality of printers are detected.
As for the printer system disclosed in Patent Document 3, printers having the same function are grouped in advance, and printing jobs are transmitted to all the printers in the group. Therefore, it is impossible to dynamically assign the printing jobs in flexible response to changes of processing states, so that processing efficiency may drop.
Further, in the method disclosed in the Patent Document 3, a single server determines a group to which the jobs are to be transmitted. Thus, when the server has a breakdown for example, the jobs cannot be transmitted.
Further, in Patent Document 3, when a printing job being processed in an image forming apparatus is transmitted to another image forming apparatus, the job is transmitted from the image forming apparatus, which is processing the job, to another image forming apparatus. Therefore, in the image forming apparatus which is processing the job, a job to be processed is temporarily received and then forwarded (transmitted) to another device. Therefore, unnecessary transmission/reception of a job has to be performed, so that processing ability of the image forming apparatus drops. Further, in the structure disclosed in the Patent Document 3, the server determines whether or not to transmit a job to another device, so that a printer job cannot be transmitted when the server has a breakdown.
Further, with the arrangement disclosed in the Patent Document 5, it is necessary to separately provide a server for assigning printer jobs to a plurality of printers, which increases a cost. Further, with the arrangement disclosed in the Patent Document 4, the server determines a group to which a printing job is to be transmitted. Thus, when the server has a breakdown for example, the printing job cannot be transmitted.
The first object of the present invention is to provide: an information processing device and an information processing program which are capable of mediating devices concerning a job (data) without using a server; a computer-readable storage medium for storing the information processing program; and an image forming apparatus.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a line concentrator which allows processing of jobs to be shared while suppressing unnecessary traffic and accelerates the processing without using an expensive device such as a server.